Utah legislators presented a bill that would offer psychedelic-assisted therapy as a new alternative medicine approach for veterans who suffer from PTSD. More than a quarter of veterans who have post traumatic stress disorder are resistant to standard medical care. Supporters of the treatments say high effectiveness and success rates are evidence of the treatments working.
House Bill 390 is sponsored by Rep. Jen Dailey-Provost and received unanimous support from the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The bill would give Huntsman Mental Health Institute approval to move forward with a clinical trial on psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans. Legislators say the bill would expand treatment options for one of Utah’s most vulnerable groups.
“Utah has one of the best research environments in the country, and I think that this is an opportunity to really get at some of the answers,” Dailey-Provost said. “We can get some meaningful data to move forward for this incredibly at-risk population, but also become the gold standard and a model for other states to follow and hopefully, move carefully forward.”
Veteran suicide rates in Utah are 50% higher than the national average and Dailey-Provost is hoping Utah can pave the way for studying treatment options. These options can then be implemented in other states. As of 2024 two psychedelic drugs, psilocybin and MDMA, have been legalized in controlled medical settings in Utah. Research programs for the study of those drugs have “been in a holding pattern,” she said.
Regulations on the drugs make it hard to access these psychedelics as the compounds are still federally illegal. This bill aims to lower regulations of acquiring the psychedelics for research and being used in controlled environments while still adhering to federal laws. This bill would open up a third psychedelic for research called dimethyltryptamine more commonly known as DMT.
Author: Andrew Streeter
Photo: Richard Vogel, AP News
Editor: Hannah Clove
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